The Punjab Vidhan Sabha has had a long and chequered history.It was under the Indian Councils Act, 1861 that for the first time,
efforts were made to establish some representative institution in the form
of an Executive Council.However,
it was only under the Government of India Act, 1919 thata Legislative Council was set up in Punjab.Thereafter, under the Government of India Act, 1935, the Punjab
Legislative Assembly was constituted with a membership of 175.It was summoned for the first time on 1 April 1937.

With the partition of
India in 1947, the East Punjab Legislative Assembly came into existence.It consisted of 72 members of the undivided Punjab Legislative
Assembly representing the constituencies falling in East Punjab (India).On 15 July, 1948, eight princely states of East Punjab grouped
together to form a single state called PEPSU - Patiala and the East Punjab
Sates Union - whichmerged with
Punjab on the Reorganisation of States on 1 November 1956.Later, the State of Punjab was reorganised on 1 November 1966 when
Haryana was carved out of it and some of its areas were transferred to
Himachal Pradesh also.

The Punjab State
Legislature in independent India became bicameral for the first time in
April 1952.On reorganisation of the States, the strength of the Legislative
Council of the new State of Punjab was raised from the earlier 40 seats to
46 seats.On 21 March 1957, the
Punjab Legislative Assembly passed a resolution to the effect that in view
of the increase in the area and population, the strength of the Punjab
Legislative Council be increased to 51.Accordingly, under the Legislative Councils Act, 1957, the number of
seats in the Punjab Legislative Council was raised to 51.With thefurther
reorganisation of the Punjab State in 1966, the number of members of the
Punjab Legislative Assembly was reduced from 154 to 104.Consequently, the number of members of the Council was also reduced
to 40.On 1 January 1970, the
Legislative Council was abolished.

At
present, the State Legislature is a unicameral body with a Legislative
Assembly, consisting of 117 members.The
tenure of the Assembly is five years, unless sooner dissolved.